The Grand Finale

There are many things that I need cover to get you, the reader (my friend, my english teacher, my neighbor, my best friend, my mom... ) whoever you are, caught up on all that summer #18 has looked like on this timeline of a life that I've been living on.

So here we are, the end of a summer that will live on in my mind for the rest of my life. I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have had these experiences, to meet who I've met, to grow how I've grown, and to feel how I've felt about my last three months of being alive up until now.

It all started on May 23, 2008 (exactly three months ago) when I drove down to Point Loma Nazarene University to learn how to use a digital sound board that at the time I had NO idea how to use. This was the beginning of long hours spent dialing in Jordan's vocal, EQing the kick drum... or perhaps it was the start of an impact I would have on a cabin of junior high boys while praying for them at an alter... or even the dawn of 6 other people who happened to be hand selected by a man who, with great wisdom, had us come together through our musical talents and create friendships that we would have for forever.

Something very special happens when a group of people are working together passionately to achieve one common goal. And when that season of your life is present and alive, once it is over you start to realize how special it really was. To know that during that short period of time, you were closer to someone than you'll ever be again. I'm think I'm beginning to learn how this life works. But I am still searching for buried treasure in the midst of it all because something tells me that there is so much more to this life than what I have already seen.

Here are some pictures that encompass more effectively some of the fun times...

Transparent's in the beginning stages at Bakersfield First Church.

It's not too hard to sell as school to someone when the center piece of the backdrop is an ocean.

Sound checking in Coolidge, AZ. Good times in that 115 degree weather.

Mark, Jordan, Brent, Me at Quaker Meadow Christian Camp

Our friends from Oroville, CA!!

The Transparent boys struttin' down the streets of Palm Springs.

Rachy, Lindo, & me

Jordan getting some sicky gnar ganr air


Rachel experimenting with her black belt skills on the sketchiest wooden bridge ever

Sound check in Sacramento (high school camp).

When two 6 piece bands come together and live in one house for a few days, this might happen.

Jordan writing on the road

Me and my friend Max chilling at a home stay in Sutter Creek, CA.

haha... we loved this church..

So those were just a few pictures of the first two months of my summer on tour with some of my best friends. Now let us transition into my next chapter...

I arrived back in La Mirada on August 3rd, celebrated my dad's birthday on the 4th, and left for Boise, Idaho on August 5th to visit in a long await fashion, my girlfriend Allison. She showed me downtown Boise (which is a really rad town!), I played nice taylor guitars in a sweet guitar store called Old Boise, we ate at the Pita Pit which is my new favorite place to eat, and the highlight of the trip was venturing down the Boise River on a raft that was probably made for one person but two was much more fun. Here are some shots of the five days I was there!

I took this with my iphone as we were about to land over B-town.

Driving to downtown, the capital is straight ahead and the mountains behind it.

About the own the boise river

Ok, so allison used to jump rope in high school and has TONS of shirts like this... so I stole a few haha.

So, I flew back into LAX on the 9th... my brother Seth picked me up and we drove out to Hemet, CA where we would meet up with tons of family and relatives that I haven't seen in forever for my Grandma's 90th birthday. We played music all night and it was fun seeing everyone again.

The next day, we had a party at my house celebrating my dad's big 6-0 party. Man was that a freaking party or what! Jam sesh until the night closed in! Here is some documentation from the big day.

Here are just some of the toys we played with sitting out... (half of them made by "dan the man" himself)

My brother, his gf, aunt and cousin.

My dad and new favorite kid ever, my nephew Owen Nash Evers!

Uncle Joe playing a little didi on a mandolin

Seth, Kasey, Ryan, Rattlesnake drinking moonshine.

This my friends is the stand up bass.

The next day, August 11th, 5 of my friends went on another journey with me. We drove up the coast on the 101 passing through some of my favorite places in california... Ventura, Santa Barbara, and eventually San Luis Obispo. We had dinner at Uncle Joe's house in Los Osos and drove to downtown SLO later that night where we saw pro surfer Tim Curren play a few tunes followed by one of my favorite songwriters, Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot, play for about an hour. Really fun night of music and meeting rad people!

Driving north

Dinner at Uncle Joe's

Downtown SLO

Tim Curren

Jon Foreman

Somehow I got a hold of the set list

This is gum ball alley. People like to stick there gum on it.

My buddy Matt

This is Kyle

Our next destination was Yosemite. To share a bit of history about why Yosemite is significant to the Richardson family is this... My great Uncle used to operate a hotel on the Merced River about 10 minutes outside of the National Park. Eventually he sold it but kept a few acres of land and a house that became a cabin that has now become known as the River Rat Shack. Nevertheless, this shack is a place where dreamers dream their dreams and where boys become men. So, we arrived at this beautiful river resort on the 12th where we met my dad and began a week full of jumping off 40 foot bolders, tubing down the river, shooting guns, and the reason we took this journey in the first place... conquering Half Dome.

This is known as the deep end. One of the many jumping rocks.

This is his home.

This is me.

Merced River

Cheesy, yes it was planned to be.

Video before our long day ahead of us.

Walking to Half Dome.

Matt, Me, Taylor, Half Dome.

This is the face we climbed to get to the top. You are holding on to a cable and climbing straight up with people on your left coming down.

We made it!!

Here's a few videos at the top!

Matt and I on our way down chilling next to a waterfall.

The boys

Tubing down the Merced River

It's way more fun when you all jump at once!

Here are some shots of the Rat Shack, I mean the cabin.

We drove home on thursday 14th and I drove us through the night to arrive at 3am. Welchy and I stayed up together drinking coffee, listening to music and having good conversations.

My brother's birthday was on the 15th so a bunch of his friends and mine went down to Alta Cafe in Newport Beach and we played a few tunes together. I played a few songs and had a lot of fun especially because there were so many people in there and they were all our good friends and family. My brother's acoustic band, Avenue of the Giants, played a long set and I picked around on mandolin in the background.

The next day, the 16th my parents helped me moved down here to Point Loma. It's great to be back. I've been busy at work getting lots of jobs done for worship ministries before the year starts.

A few things I've been up to while being down here in San Diego that have made this week great...

1) I went to Phil's BBQ last night and it continues to be the best BBQ EVER!

2) I went to a rad church in Carlsbad called North Coast Calvary Chapel that I totally digged and met some awesome people

3) I bought a season pass to Sea World!

SHARKS!


4) My friend Erica, Allison, and I went to the Pita Pit in Pacific Beach the other day after a bomb fire. Pita = Happiness

5) Today, Everyone is coming! Can't wait for all of my old friends to return to loma and pick up where we left off.

Thank you to all of you reading this who have been a part of my life up until now. What an amazing life we get to live every single day and just to know that God holds it all together. Knowing that every time we breath a new breath of fresh air, God is the one who created that breath. After a summer like this, I am fully compelled to keep breathing.

Garrett

I know, I know...

I feel more and more guilty every passing day because I have not blogged in FOREVER! I'm sorry if I let anyone down... (but part of me feels like no one really cares though haha). 

I've been more than busy the last few weeks...

I don't have much time to write especially considering the fact that I would need hours to share about what has been going on lately. I actually just finished packing to leave for Yosemite in a few. 

Just a quick update on my life lately before I go...

-I got back from the tour two fridays ago. 

-My dad's birthday was august 4th

-I went to Boise, ID last tuesday-saturday

-My grandma turned 90 on saturday (party in the desert)

-My dad had the sweetest 60th birthday party yesterday at our house

-I'm climbing Half Dome on wednesday. 

-Leaving for Point Loma this Saturday

So, there it is. My past, present, and future in bullets. 

**If you are around this friday, my brother, dad, friends, and I are playing music in Newport Beach at Alta Cafe at 7:30pm. It's over the bridge on newport blvd close to the Lido Theatre. It would be rad to see you!

I've been working on a mega blog to capture my summer in full...videos, pictures, etc. Hopefully I can post it soon. Thanks for caring about my life! 

love, 

garrett

1, 2, 3 . . . Surprise!

Ok, so I thought last night that I would be driving up a mountain right now and have no chance of being on the internet but we found out today that the camp we're playing at this week doesn't need us up there until 7pm tonight so we're at our media tech's house, her name is Lindsay and she's the coolest. We're stoked that we can chill right now and just rest up for this big week we have ahead of us. There is supposed to be around 350 to 400 high schoolers at this camp so we're gearing up for this one.

I feel like I have a ton to share with you...

1) Sutter Creek, CA

We drove from Oroville, CA to Sutter Creek last Saturday and met up with some very cool people who welcomed us in as new grandchildren. Their house was so much fun to hang out at! After we sound checked at their rad church, we followed an older man and his wife to our home stay that was a good 30 minute drive, felt like forever, out in the country. We stayed at an older couples' house who's daughter attended Point Loma and they fed us SOO good! They lived on a farm with cows, goats, horses, pigs, chickens... you name it! We stayed in a pool house that he custom built by himself and they had a sweet pond.

I met the sound tech at the church there and was blown away by this man. He does sound for The Police, Switchfoot, Carlos Santana, Christina Agulara, Justin Timberlake (haha)... but seriously it was pretty sweet meeting this dude who rolled up to my sound board and was like, "Hi, I do sound for the church here..." and this carried on to a fun conversation. We have been blessed to meet such rad people!

Lindsay getting her swing on!

Sitting on the dock.

Rachel and Shelby caught a frog! haha

Got milk? 

We had some good times swimming in this rock quarry of a pool. 

Suttercreek First Church of the Naz

2) Santa Rosa, CA

From there, we drove passed San Francisco and on to Santa Rosa where we would spend one of our best weeks at the Sacramento High School camp. It was beautiful up there! Redwoods everywhere you look and we were thankful to simply be in "clean" air away from the fires. The leadership at the camp was so rad to work with. Ok, story time... early in the week we were sound checking in the chapel before the night service and this huge guy rolls in wearing a Hillsong shirt. He ends up telling us that he is from South Africa and working on staff there for the summer. He was one of the funniest guys ever! We will remember this camp for a long time because not only did we have fun and meet cool people but we saw God's children come into a camp with hearts that were hurting and leave with renewed and changed only by the power of holy spirit. It has been so cool being apart of experiences like this.

The stage

Jordan

Mark

Ropes coarse 

The Director's kid. 

Our South African friend. 

We stayed at Justin's house last friday night in Sacramento

I have tons more to share about this weekend but have to go! Gotta get this band up the mountain!! 

Here's a little sneakpeak of what I still have to share about...

ps: don't worry mom... I'm still alive! 

Bye!

Hello

Hi friends.

I haven't had wifi the last few days so it's been impossible to blog since camp but it went really well! We were so blessed by everything that happened and feel like God is opening our eyes to see powerful things happen in the church.

I'm in porterville (north of Backersfield) right now. We played at porterville first church of the nazarene today three times and it was very encouraging to be around those people. Lots of point Loma alumni there who have a huge impact on Plnu still today so it was rad knowing who does all of the behind the scenes stuff to make it function

We saw batman tonight! Good stuff. Not ready to tell y'all about it but it's worth ten bucks.

I'm writing from my iPhone and super tired right now. I'm driving the bus up the mountain that take about two hours to climb in that thing so I need some rest. Please pray for our safety!

I promise to write a HUGE blog next weekend when we are in Yuba City! Tons of pictures to share!

Love,
Garrett

Live Video Feed!!

Hey friends! 

Here at Transparent, we are stepping up our game more and more everyday! 

Tonight and tomorrow at 8:30pm, we will be showing a live video feed from the chapel service!

We are currently up in Sacramento for this weeks high school camp! If you've been wondering what I and the band have been up to for the last two and a half months, check it out!! 

 

Go to this website:

http://www.sacramentocamps.org/index.php/camps/comments/chapel_at_sr_high_camp/

It looks like this: 

Also, I posted a bunch of new photos on our band's myspace so if you're interested, check it out. The URL is: 

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums2&friendID=384981259&view=true

Enjoy! 

More to come soon :)

North, Del Norte, Du Nord, Het Noorden

Whatever way you might interpret where we have traveled to thus far... we, Transparent, have taken the northbound friend of ours, the 5 freeway, up to Sac-town or properly known as our state's capital, Sacramento, CA.

First, here is a little snapshot of what we've been up to all summer!!

To give you the latest update from my last post, July 4th was a really unique day for me that I think I'll be able to remember as a day of relaxation, reflection, and observation. Let me explain. But first, this picture alone should speak louder than words. 

I have discovered a new passion and that is jogging.  So I took a run down sunset cliffs on a beautiful sunny day finding myself not to take a breather until I reached my destination in Ocean Beach.  My end point being the one and only... OB Smoothie Bar. (I give full credit to this new obsession of mine to my girlfriend because she got me hooked on this

fruity/healthy concoction known as the Acai Bowl.) 

Take a look and tell me how good/"independence day" friendly that looks on a day like that. 

   

  

Here is a picture from the fireworks show over the harbor at night where one of my favorite people, the one and only, Meaghan Maples joined me as we strolled the town. I could see at least 5 shows going off from where I was at. It was pretty sweet. 

From San Diego, we journeyed to the desert once again. We landed in Yucca Valley on Saturday night and met some Point Loma alumni who work at the church now and became our friends. We stayed at an older couples house and ironically, the power went out in the house right before we arrived. The power eventually went on late at night but it was pretty spooky since it was such a huge empty house to us with the howling wind blowing in at us through the windows.    

Driving in the desert.

We met up with Regeneration, the other Point Loma summer travel band, in Palm Springs for a few days. Oh the stories that we created from that small trip will live on for forever. We ate like kings and queens and were blessed to live in a sick house with a pool. We went to a steak and shrimp restaurant one night that was super fun because they cooked the food in front of you and made volcanoes out of onions. 

 

Even Amo, Me, Jordan Frye, Meaghan Maples.    

Here is the group after our feast...

So here we are, Oroville, CA. It's probably 45 minutes out of downtown Sacramento. I feel like it has been different everywhere we visit because each town has new people with different lifestyles and we experience new challenges and excitement all the time. This summer, northern california has experienced some gnarly fires and one fire is about 15 miles away and the other is about 20. We have pretty much been smoked out of most of the activities they had planned for us but I believe that God works in specific ways for a purpose.  We have loved serving the community by preparing cots for displaced fire victims, setting up chairs in the church sanctuary, sorting clothes, making sack lunches/dinners for firefighters, and helping at a pregnancy clinic in town.  We've done things that we did not plan for but I think God works more when we come in with surrendered expectations of what we imagine things could look like. When we've allowed our hands and feet to speak louder than our sound systems or preconceived thoughts, we've seen people's hearts begin to beat again . 

The cots for the fire victims. 

        

Justin a peace sign while we make food for the firefighters.

Thank you so much for checking this thing out from time to time. I love reading your comments so comment away as much as you want! 

Here are some goofy pictures that we've taken over the weeks: 

     

Two Children. one big, one small.       

   

Shelby in her gas station glasses.                         

This is how Palm Springs sports their stunner shades. 

All I have to say about this is that P Springs has some 

very eclectic shops and We took advantage of them.

We're off to Suttercreek in the morning. And our 4th camp on sunday! 

Goodnight!

Garrett

It's been a while, I know, I'm sorry.

First of all, Happy Forth! 

Goal on Independence Day: Light off as many fireworks as you possibly can but make sure at the end of the day, you can come back to you mother with all limbs intact. 

So I hope you all enjoyed our spin of The Great Adventure. I haven't had internet connection until now so here's a big blog to make up for it! 

This past week we've been in Coolidge, AZ. Average temperature for the week, 110 degrees. It was warm indeed. Despite that, we met some incredible people there who were such a blessing to us. While we were there, we played worship for church and youth events, helped with VBS, played sports with kids in the community, and helped with various service projects. Some individually really stuck out to me that I will always remember. God moved in powerful ways, which was so cool to see even in the smallest of towns. 

So here we are. I'm currently sitting in an apartment... where? yep, you guessed it... only my favorite place on earth... Point Loma. We came back to rest for Forth of July before we head out on Saturday for Yucca Valley, CA. The moment we pulled on campus, we stopped the bus by the chapel and all got out to stare off into the ocean as the cool breeze graced our sun scorched bodies from the desert of hellish temperatures. Ok, that might sound a little extreme but if anyone was excited to be home, it was definitely me. 

Oh by the way, I should let you in on our secret obsession. Lost (the TV show) has become a love of ours for the 5 weeks we've been together now and I'm secure with myself enough to say that I'm close to addicted to this television phenomena. Now let's be honest, I NEVER watch TV but for some reason, watching this first season on dvds has been quite the experience. Season II, Here we come (thanks to our good friend Travis who is letting us borrow it on the road).

I thought I'd throw in some oldies but goodies and some not so oldie but still good...

Shelby tries to copy me a lot. 

The Arizona Camp Crew. We love 'em. 

Starbucks owns the earth. 

Garrett, Mark, and his wooden arm. 

Transparent Apparel. 

J on stage at Arizona Camp.

Jordan walking to the battlefield of death. (read two blogs below)

The Creator of this earth knew what He was doing when he made these mountains. 

Gas stations and bathroom breaks are becoming our best friend on these long trips.